PRE-GAME RANT

Will that picture be re-created tonight, perhaps with Jordan Eberle the subject? Let’s hope so. The Canadians barely squeaked off a shootout win against the USA on New Years Eve. The Americans look to be the best match for the offensive Canadians (not to be confused with the other meaning of the word “offensive”, often used with the Oilers as of late). The Americans play a very strong, tight neutral zone game. I suppose you could call it a trap, but it’s smart hockey. The Canadians had a lot of trouble getting passes through the neutral zone. They also have been having some difficulty with their powerplay and have changed it up a bit, giving them another option.

Anyways, there also is an Oilers GDT thread out there (below this one). But I have to wonder why anyone in the world would watch that game over this one. This is exciting hockey folks. Even if the Oilers were doing well, this is what hockey is all about. Tune in for sure.

EDMONTON OILERS PROSPECT WATCH (UPDATED – FINAL SCORING)

Player

Team

GP

G

A

PTS

+/-

Jordan Eberle

6

8

5

13

+3

Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson

6

3

7

10

+6

Anton Lander

6

5

3

8

+5

Teemu Hartikainen

6

4

2

6

-3

Toni Rajala

6

1

2

3

-2

SCORING SUMMARY

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

– 02:40 – Adam from Caron

– 13:56 – Kreider from Palmieri, Jenks

– 14:32 – Schroeder from Bourque, Donovan

– 16:03 – Nemisz from Kadri, Hall

2nd Period

– 01:03 – Carlson (PP) from Kristo, McRae

– 03:56 – Hall from Adam

3rd Period

– 04:12 – D’Amigo from Stepan

– 06:23 – Stepan form D’Amigo

– 17:11 – Eberle (PP) from Pietrangelo, Hall

– 18:25 – Eberle from Ellis, Kadri

Overtime

– 04:31 – Carlson from Ramage

OFFICIAL IIHF AWARDS

AWARDS

Player of the game for Canada

Jordan Eberle

Player of the game for USA

Derek Stepan

Top 3 of tournament for Canada (named by coaching staff)

Taylor Hall Jordan Eberle Alex Pietrangelo

Top 3 of tournament for USA (named by coaching staff)

Tyler Johnson Derek Stepan Jerry D’Amigo

Best Goaltender of the tournament

Benjamin Conz

Best Defenseman of the tournament

Alex Pietrangelo

Best Forward of the tournament

Jordan Eberle

Tournament MVP

Jordan Eberle

POST-GAME RANT

USA wins Gold in an epic final

Well, this one is in the books. It was won on a goal by John Carlson. I have to hand it to the Americans. They played a great game. They played a solid 60+. When Canada came back, it was because the Canadians were pressing HARD, not because the USA laid back. The US clearly deserved to win.

That all said though, what a great game played by Canada. Unfortunately, they got off to a slow start and had some bad goaltending off the hop as well. They were clawing to stay in this one nearly the whole way. Again, the magic-man Jordan Eberle did his best to keep Canada in this. He scored two goals late in the 3rd period to tie it up 5-5 and force overtime. But it wasn’t meant to be.

The good news for us Oilers fans is that Jordan Eberle racked up a few awards after the tournament’s end – he was named one of the top 3 players for Canada (voted on by the coaching staff for Canada), player of the game for Canada, forward of the tournament, and tournament MVP. As Pierre McGuire would say “If you’re a fan of the Edmonton Oilers… get excited about Jordan Eberle!”. He’s from Regina, but it was good hearing the Saskatoon fans chant “Eber-le! Eber-le! Eber-le!” when he received the forward of the tournament award. TSN even gushed about Eberle, saying he was the most clutch player to ever suit up for Canada in the juniors. Pierre McGuire: “He’s the most prolific goalscorer Canada has ever had”. Bob McKenzie: “I agree. I don’t remember a more clutch performance back to back by a Canadian player.” Get excited, indeed. Depending on your view, he also took over the lead for career goals in the World Juniors by a player. The IIHF counts shootout winners as goals, however. So if you remove this, then he would be tied with John Tavares for the lead (and Eberle has played one less game). Either way, that’s pretty impressive.

Disappointing loss, but good game by Canada, and great hosting done by Saskatchewan. It wasn’t meant to be this year, but great game Canada!

Entertaining final and good showing all tournament. Like the looks of some of our prospects and Eberle and Hall now have some experience together. Perhaps he can tell Taylor some good stories about E-Town.

Ok – big decision here. I gave my husband a new Team Canada jersey for Christmas, but it’s too small so I planned on returning it. But after the 5th goal, I put it on and then Eberle scored twice to tie it up. If we had won, I definitely would be keeping it for myself, but still we came back to force OT. I can’t decide now if I should keep it or not!

LateNightOilFan: Ok – big decision here.I gave my husband a new Team Canada jersey for Christmas, but it’s too small so I planned on returning it. But after the 5th goal, I put it on and then Eberle scored twice to tie it up.If we had won, I definitely would be keeping it for myself, but still we came back to force OT.I can’t decide now if I should keep it or not!

eberle’s two goals were very nice. The TSN guys all said he was the best player to ever play for Canada in this tourny. I can’t wait till hes up in Edmonton…….On another note in this game USA USA USA!!!!! I CALLED IT!!

Bostonoiler: eberle’s two goals were very nice. The TSN guys all said he was the best player to ever play for Canada in this tourny. I can’t wait till hes up in Edmonton…….On another note in this game USA USA USA!!!!! I CALLED IT!!

Congrats Boston! USA played a helluva game. They can’t sing for shit though!

Bostonoiler: eberle’s two goals were very nice. The TSN guys all said he was the best player to ever play for Canada in this tourny. I can’t wait till hes up in Edmonton…….On another note in this game USA USA USA!!!!! I CALLED IT!!

Congrats man… I haven’t seen the Americans play this good at hockey.. probably ever. That team was very good. They deserved a gold as much as any team did.

Thanks for the GDT folks, disappointing end result but great conversation and great game. Kinda typical for the times though – watched the game with my husband and son and all three of us had our laptops, they were on Facebook and I was here. Kinda neat, laptops nearly went flying a couple times.

Hey B.O., just out of curiosity, how come you cheer for Oilers? If you cheer for Team USA, my guess is you were raised there? Haha not sure but makes things interesting.

Too bad the boys lost, it was a hell of a game, they may have to change the outlining to silver instead of gold-NOT. Haha hopefully we’ll strike gold in US next year. Eberle was outstanding, don’t ruin him brass by rushing him into the NHL.

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